Serapeum

The Serapeum is the name given to the galleries of tombs of the ' Apis Bulls', situated to the north-west of Zoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara.

The mother and calves were also buried in special separate galleries of tombs. The bulls were treated like royalty both during their lifetime (around 20 to 25 years) and in their funerary ceremonies.

They were embalmed in the position of a sphinx, in a seated pose with their legs tucked beneath them. From Dynasty XXVI, massive granitesarcophagi were used, but the only one found to have been inscribed from this period belongs to the reign of
Amasis (Khnemibre).

Evidence of the first Apis burial in the Memphite Serapeum at Saqqara dates back to Amenhotep 3 of Dynasty 18, when many animal deities were prominent.

The earliest intact burial to be found was from the reign of Horemheb, which also saw the first decorated Apis tomb. At this time the tomb of each bull was separate and only became part of the catacombs during the reign of Ramses 2. His son Khaemwaset, buried several Apis bulls in his role as High Priest of Ptah at Memphis. It was once thought that Khaemwaset who was something of an antiquarian, was also buried in the Serapeum in a wooden coffin, but Egyptologists now believe the burial to have been that of an Apis Bull.

Prince Khaemwaset donated several items of jewelry and amulets inscribed in his name to the bull burials.

Merenptah, another son of Ramses 2, is also seen officiating in the Apis ceremonies as both High Priest and Prince.

The cult of the Apis survived until the Emperor Honorius banned it and closed the Serapeum in A.D. 398.

Although there had been much archaeological material found earlier in the area, the Serapeum was first discovered by a Frenchman, Paul Lucas, in the 18th century. In 1851 Auguste Mariette found a lion-bodied sphinx with the head of a Pharaoh, part of an ancient processional route described by the Greek geographer Strabo in the 1st century A.D. Strabo wrote of an avenue of sphinxes which once led through the sand dunes to a temple of
Serapes, built by Nectanebo 2. Mariette uncovered over a hundred more sphinxes during his preliminary excavations and eventually, on 12 November 1851, he entered the catacombs beneath the Serapeum temple in an explosion of great public excitement.

The underground chambers first entered by Mariette consisted of a long gallery containing niches with votive stelae and large side-chambers containing 24 huge granitesarcophagi in the form of single blocks of stone, each weighing between 60 and 80
tones. This gallery proved to have contained the burials of Apis Bulls from the 26th Dynasty to the Ptolemaic Period. There were three sarcophagi inscribed - in the names of Amasis (Dynasty XXVI), Cambyses (Dynasty XXVII) and Khebebesh, the last native ruler of Egypt before the Persian re-conquest and the advent of Alexander the Great. All of the sarcophagi found in this gallery had been robbed in antiquity and were found to be empty. The main gallery has provided Egyptologists with a wealth of chronological information, especially about the elusive rulers of the Third Intermediate Period.

Mariette continued excavations and in the following year found more galleries or 'lesser vaults' which proved to contain burials from year 30 of Ramses 2 down to Dynasty 22. In a third series of chambers, Mariette discovered burials from the reign of Amenhotep 3 into Dynasty XIX, the earliest yet found. One of the chambers in the earlier gallery was found to contain an intact burial, dated to the reign of Horemheb, and in another chamber, two huge gold covered coffins containing bull burials were attributed to Years 16 and 30 of the reign of Ramses 2. A great many artifacts were found, including statues, four large human-headed canopic jars containing the viscera of the bulls and around 250 ushabti figures. Many of the
artifacts found by Mariette during his excavations of the Serapeum are now in the Louvre in Paris. Curiously the bodies of the bulls had been broken into pieces before being wrapped and coated in resin, suggesting to Egyptologists the possibility of the bulls being ritually cooked and eaten by Pharaoh and the priests before internment. It would seem that only in later burials were the Apis Bulls fully mummified.

On entering the Serapeum a long staircase descends deep underground. In the passage of the first hall, the sarcophagus lid of the Apis buried in the time of Amasis can be seen. The main gallery which dates to the Late Kingdom and Ptolemaic Period runs parallel to the entrance corridor and here you can see the sarcophagi of bulls buried under Amasis, Cambyses and Khebebesh in the side-chambers. The most elaborately decorated sarcophagus stands at the far end of the long gallery. Only the later gallery can now be seen.

The Ibis Galleries

The sacred ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) was the most common species of the bird regarded in Egypt as an incarnation of the god Thoth. By the Late Kingdom and Ptolemaic Period, ibises were mummified in great numbers and buried in catacombs, especially at Tuna el-Gabal and Saqqara. Perhaps Saqqara was chosen as the site of an ibis cemetery because of its associations with Imhotep (Zoser's architect) who was identified with Thoth (or Asclepius) from the Late Kingdom onwards. Many votive objects have been found in the galleries, such as amulets and statues, produced in the shape of the ibis which were sacred to the cult of Thoth. The mummified ibises were probably bought by pilgrims and donated as gifts to Thoth or offered by those in search of healing from the deified Imhotep.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, travelers reported seeing the 'tombs of the bird mummies ' at Saqqara but these were virtually ignored until Walter Bryan Emery began to excavate in the area while hoping to find the tomb of Imhotep in 1964. Emery worked in an area which was strewn with pottery from a late pharaonic date and went on to discover their source while clearing the shaft of a 3rd Dynasty mastaba tomb. His workmen accidentally broke into catacombs similar in appearance to the Serapeum, but this time brimming with mummified ibises (estimated at over one and a half million). It seems that the birds had been placed in the galleries in sealed pottery jars - the source of the mysterious potsherds. Emery went on to find an extensive complex of ibis galleries running to many chambers containing rows and rows of mummified birds stacked in their pottery jars. Over the next decade Emery also found catacombs containing burials of falcons, baboons and the galleries of the 'Mother of the Apis '. Emery's excavation came to an end with his death in 1971, but has since been continued by others.

Other Animal Burials

To cater for the rise in popularity of animal cults at Saqqara a series of small temples or shrines were built at the northern edge of the plateau which were
populated by priests and officials who maintained the cults. A society evolved
in the area which included embalmers, stonecutters, craftsmen of various kinds
and no doubt those who provided food and lodging to the many pilgrims visiting
the shrines. In the Saqqara tomb of the Scribe, Hor of
Sebennytus, a documentary
archive was found, comprised of 65 demotic texts written on pottery. This archive, known as the 'dream ostraca' gave many details of the management of the animal cults during the reign of Ptolemy 6, as well as documenting the divinely inspired dreams of its author.

Most of the animal cemeteries at Saqqara, excluding the Apis galleries, were votive burials - animals and birds which were buried in mass graves. More major caches of animal mummies were discovered during excavation of the terrace of the Nectanebo 2 cult temple near the Serapeum. A cemetery of baboons consisted of two levels of galleries, once full with mummified baboons in wooden boxes, but unfortunately only one intact mummy had survived destruction by the early Christians. There were also sacred falcons buried in a gallery beneath the temple terrace, mummified and enclosed in pottery jars similar to the ibis burials mentioned earlier. During Emery's excavation of the temple terrace he also found a pit containing a large number of votive statues dedicated to many different deities.